On Weber, Pathogens, and Culture: A Global Empirical Analysis of Religion and Individualism

Collectivism-individualism framework is widely employed to explain differences in economic development and democratization. However, little empirical work has been done about the religious microfoundations of this framework. This study closes this gap by providing a global empirical analysis of religion and individualism. Distinguishing between piety and religious identity, the study proposes theoretical mechanisms linking religion to varieties of individualism controlling for diffusive effects of denominational size and collectivism inducing exogenous factors. A series of multilevel model estimations using the World Values Surveys along with denominational composition and historical pathogen prevalence confirm that religiosity inhibits social and expressive individualism but engenders economic individualism. Some support is found for Weber's religious ethic thesis as differences emerge among religious denominations. Pathogen prevalence and denominational size somewhat strengthens the negative correlation between religiosity and individualism. These results are robust to alternative specifications and have significant implications about the role of religiosity in shaping individualistic attitudes.

Automated summary

This study provides a global empirical analysis of the relationship between religion and individualism, finding that religiosity inhibits social and expressive individualism but engenders economic individualism. Differences among religious denominations and the effects of pathogen prevalence and denominational size are also observed.